


An Ending and a Beginning (Or, Steve Finally Gets a Life)

by gaygeekgirl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Endgame Fix-It, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Some angst, it's what i wish had happened, look this is purely for myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 06:31:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18773170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaygeekgirl/pseuds/gaygeekgirl
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS!This is how the ending should have gone. I rest my case.edit August 2019: not abandoned! lots of stuff going on in my life. will update at some point! if you want to read more of my writing (mostly poetry), check out my website/social media in the end notes!





	An Ending and a Beginning (Or, Steve Finally Gets a Life)

**Author's Note:**

> [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6lLf43nc6B96E28jPw9lte)   
> 

Bucky held his breath for those five seconds. He had been without Steve for so long, but five seconds more seemed like too much. He couldn't do it. 

Sam put a hand on his arm, and the steady warmth comforted him. 

The now-familiar rushing noise came and Steve appeared, panting, shield placed on his back and a solitary tear on his face the only sign it was not just an ordinary mission.

He stumbled, and Sam helped him to a bench close by. The Captain put his head in his hands. 

Bucky walked slowly toward him, and Sam went to help Bruce with the equipment, knowing the two needed space. 

Bucky sat beside him, taking one of his hands in his flesh one. 

"I did it." Steve's voice was low and Bucky almost didn't hear him. 

"I'm proud of you," Bucky murmured, using his thumb to wipe a tear from the other man's cheek.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Bucky didn't know how to ask it, but Steve knew what was going through his mind already.

"I saw her," Steve said simply. 

Bucky nodded gently. He knew he should just listen.

"She was the same as I remembered. I -" He paused, stifling a sob. Bucky squeezed his hand. "But her voice - I almost forgot what she sounded like. How - how could I?"

"You're only human, baby."

Steve took a deep breath. "I wanted to. So bad. I almost stayed." 

Bucky hesitated before he admitted, "For a moment, I thought you would."

"I could have made the dance. Married her. Grown old."

"You could've. I wouldn't have blamed you. You deserve a life."

Steve smiled at him sadly. "I'm not leaving you again. I didn't choose to leave Peggy the first time. And then I watched her die. I carried her coffin. I know she's gone. But you - you're not gone. You're here."

"I'm here," Bucky repeated.

"And I - I won't leave someone I love again. Even if it means I have to keep fighting."

"You don't have to keep fighting," Bucky said simply. "We can start over."

Steve looked thoughtfully over at Sam, who was bending over and packing up some equipment. "I thought about that. How do you think Sam would look in the outfit?"

"Not as good as you." Bucky winked. Steve hit his arm playfully and he laughed. "Whatever you want, baby. Sam would make an amazing Captain."

Steve took the shield off his back and held it thoughtfully. "I'll almost miss it."

"You'll have me." Bucky took the shield and set it on the bench beside them. "You'll have a life."

Steve hummed in agreement. "Let's get an apartment," he said abruptly. "In Brooklyn."

Bucky smiled in amazement. "You'd do this for me?"

"I already gave up everything for you and you think I don't want to spend the rest of my life with you?" Steve shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? 'Til the end of the line."

"You're not allergic to dogs anymore, are you?"

Steve laughed out loud, the way he always used to, the way Bucky hadn't seen for a lifetime, his head thrown back and shoulders shaking. "I'm not. We'll get a dog. Whatever you want, Buck."

Bucky inhaled for a second. "You know I'm not ok, right?" 

Steve tilted his head in question. 

"I mean . . . Shuri didn't fix me. Well, she fixed this" - Bucky raised his prosthetic - "but not this." He tapped his head. "I'm still - I'm still messed up in there. I don't know if you want -"

Steve interrupted him, scoffing. "Bucky, after what you went through? Of course you're not okay. Yes, I want this. I want all of you, even the hard bits. And you think I'm completely okay, after all this? We've both been through enough trauma. We're getting an apartment and a dog and therapists and -"

Bucky interrupted him with a kiss, their first real kiss since the 40s, and nothing else mattered anymore.

They were interrupted by a wolf-whistle, and they broke apart to see Sam walking, grinning, over to them. "I see you've figured everything out."

Steve shrugged, embarrassed. 

"We're getting a dog," Bucky blurted out, and Sam laughed.

"You deserve one. Cap retiring, then?"

There was a pause before Steve stood up, bringing the shield over and standing in front of Sam. "Not quite."

Bucky turned around as the shield and title were passed on. The only thing he'd miss was the way America's ass looked in the Cap outfit. He looked out across the lake.

He had never had the privilege of thinking about the future. There had never been an opportunity like this, to see the years stretching out before him and to look forward to them. He had been working to feed his family, or fighting, or brainwashed, or frozen. He had never had a moment to breathe. 

But that afternoon, he breathed. And kept breathing. And no one told him what to do or handed him a gun or hurt him. 

It was just him and Steve and that was all he needed. 

The fight was finally over.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> [website](https://johannahallwrites.wordpress.com)  
> [tumblr](https://sapphicpenguin.tumblr.com)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/gay_librarian)  
> [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8rzGyKIb1KfSPEmapZ-8VQ)


End file.
